Tour information

The best way to experience culture is staying in the countryside with the nomads where life obeys the same laws as many centuries ago, where there are no stores and electricity, no internet and running water. Motherland provides you with everything you need and in return, people respect and follow ancient traditions to keep the balance of the Nature. It’s an exceptional adventure of a lifetime which lets you find how free and simple can the human life be away from civilization with its crowded cities and excess of information. This tour is full of interaction with nomads, you will learn a lot about tuvan traditions and customs, about nomadic hunting surrounded by breathtaking landscapes.

Itinerary

Day

Itinerary

Meals

Accommodation

1

Kyzyl – Aldyn-Bulak

L+D

Yurts (Double)

2

Kyzyl – Sai-Xonash

B+L+D

Yurts or wooden house

3

Sai-Xonash

B+L+D

Yurts or wooden house

4

Sai-Xonash

B+L+D

Yurts or wooden house

5

Sai-Xonash

B+L+D

Yurts or wooden house*

6

Sai-Xonash – Kyzyl

B+L+D

Hotel (Single)

7

Aldyn-Bulak – Kyzyl

B+L

n/a

B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner

*- accommodation in this place depends on the season. Staying in yurts is possible from mid-June to mid-August when the nomads are in their summer camps. The rest of the year accommodation will be organized in winter wooden house of the nomads.

Detailed itinerary

Day 1.Aldyn-Bulak

Our guide will meet you at the airport of Kyzyl. You will visit the Tuvan National Museum the highlight of which is the exposition of golden items from the ancient Scythian burial site “Arzhaan – 2” (VII B.C.) discovered on the territory of Tuva in 2001. We will also visit a shamanic clinic where you can see real Tuvan shamans at their work. Lunch in restaurant of Kyzyl. After this we will take a walk through Kyzyl to see some of the town’s principal sights: The Centre of Asia sculpture complex, the Buddhist temple “Tsechenlig” (“compassion” in Tibetan). We will then go back into town to the Centre of Traditional Tuvan culture. Many elements, expressions and representations of Tuvan culture are concentrated in this center: Tuvan National Orchestra, throat singers’ groups, artisans and great masters of traditional Tuvan instruments. Drive to Aldyn-Bulak yurt complex. Dinner and accommodation in suite yurts. Special folk performance with the best Tuvan Khoomey singers and dancers will be organized for you during dinner. After dinner the most powerful Tuvan shaman will pray the spirits for good luck during your hunt. He will make a huge fire and offer white food and drinks to the spirits, he will play his drum and burn sacred juniper during the ritual.

Day 2.Sai-Xonash

We will pick you up from the yurt complex and we will drive to “Sai-Xonash” yurt camp. On the way there we will stop for an excursion to the Xaiyrakan mountain (50km from Aldyn-Bulak) – one of the most sacred places of Tuva which was sanctified by the Dalai-Lama – XIV in 1992 and worshipped as well by shamans. As the saying goes, the Mountain will give healing and force to those who visit it with an open heart.
Our second stop will be climbing the Uttug-Khaya mountain – Holey mountain which is also considered as a sacred place by Tuvans. There is a cave and a really narrow passage in this cave: “If one can pass through this passage, his dream will come true”, – believe people.
Lunch in café in Kyzyl-Mazhalyk. Drive to “Sai-Xonash” yurt camp which neighbors with the nomads’ camps. (70km from Kyzyl-Mazhalyk to Sai-Xonash) It is located in the place called Ak, an extremely beautiful area surrounded with the high mountains, forests and purest spring waters. It has 4 twin and triple cozy yurts. Every yurt has 2 beds and Tuvan traditional furniture. People living on this very isolated part of land breed animals such as sheep, cows, horses, goats and yaks. They still live keeping their culture and traditions alive. The tourists will be met by a Tuvan nomadic family. Following the Tuvan hospitality tradition guests will be offered to have some Tuvan milk tea, to taste milk alcohol and the tastiest and fresh lam cooked tuvan traditional way with blood sausage.
Dinner and overnight in the yurts.

Day 3.Sai-Xonash

Early breakfast and leaving with hunters and yak herders on horses. Lunch will be cooked on fire. Dinner and accommodation in camp. This day you will spend riding horses through the beautiful landscapes and mountains of Bayan-Kol place. You will see the way the tuvan nomads hunt the wolves. You will also meet the yak herders with their yaks.

Day 4.Sai-Xonash

Today you will go with hunters visiting different nomadic camps in the valley, exploring their authentic lifestyle, tasting fresh tuvan dairy products and meals such as fresh tuvan cheese and crème-you will feel as in bio paradise here. Dinner and accommodation in camp.

Day 5.Sai-Xonash

Day 6.Aldyn-Bulak

Early breakfast and head to Aldyn-Bulak. On the way will drive to Bizhiktig-khaya Mountain with ancient petroglyphs discovered by the Russian archeologist A. Andrianov. The Mountain bears more than 300 petroglyphs which date back to the Bronze Age depicting scenes of hunting, as well as the image of Buddha which dates back to 1358. We will also see Kizhi-Kozhee statue, a monument to an unknown hero (second half of the Ist millennium B.C.). Lunch will be in restaurant of Ak-Dovurak. Dinner in restaurant of Kyzyl. Accommodation in hotel.

Day 7.Kyzyl

Breakfast and drive to the airport. End of program.

Price

The price of the tour is:

2 PAX – 1799 Euros per person

4 PAX – 1699 Euros per person

6+1 PAX – 1599 Euros per person

10+1 PAX -1499 Euros per 1 person.

14+1 PAX – 1399 Euros per person

Included:

Please Note: We don’t provide transfer from Krasnoyarsk to Kyzyl and from Kyzyl to Krasnoyarsk.

Service of the guide-interpreter and a driver according to the program of the tour.

Excluded:

Airplane/train tickets and travel insurance;

Visa procedures and costs (consultation could be provided);

Drinks and water during the tour except the ones mentioned in the program;

Personal expenses and tips;

Hotel and airport extras.

Additional information

Situation: Central Asia and Southern Siberia

Time zone: GMT +7 (summer)

Currency: Russian ruble

Climate and clothing: continental climate (summer max: +30 to +40ºC, winter max: -25ºC to -45ºC). Please note that the mountain temperature is usually lower than in the rest of Tuva (this concerns tours that include Sai-Xonash yurt camp). Therefore, it is advised to take two different types of clothes and shoes: for hot summer days as well as for rainy and cold days. Please note that we cannot be responsible for bad weather conditions.

What else you could need: mosquito repellents, basic pharmacy and medications if you are taking any, umbrella. People with special conditions: Please advise us in advance if you have any special condition such as, for example, diabetes, blood tension, and so on.